Saturday, June 7, 2014

May 27 - June 1

May 27- This morning we had district meeting. we were aske by Elder Francis to do a training on applying the scriptures to our lives and our investigators. it was suppose to be a 10 to 15 minute training but it ended up being about 45 minutes. oops haha! the training was great! we were super happy the way it turned out. Elder Simpson pulled us aside and told us how much he loved our training. that was neat to hear. After we all went into the RS room to sing God be with you till we meet again for elder Buttars since he is going home on Monday. It was sad cause he started to cry. he said a few words after and I really liked what he said. He said that he is sad to leave the work but is ready to go home. he has no regrets. that just really hit me, I too want to be able to say that same thing. after that tender moment we all ate lunch and mingled. we headed to the library to email which was packed with us missionaries. I hate holidays on Mondays haha I use to love it but not as a missionary. it throws off the groove for the whole week. after we made some phone calls confirming and setting up appointments. Sister Bridges came and picked us up for dinner. we went out to Titan Burgers. they were super good! after eating we went back to her place to share a message. she then dropped us off at home. I packed for our exchanges and then we headed off to Miguels for our lesson with him and his wife. the Remingtons were able to come to that lesson. It was great! we were able to talk about the Plan of Salvation. he was so curious about his purpose here on earth. He talked about experiences he has had and wants to know why he is still around. Pres. Remington being the bold man that he is said it was because he needed to join the church. I was thinking the exact same thing, I just didn't have the guts to say it haha im still working on that part! we were able to read a few scriptures with him which got him excited to start reading. he said he would start doing that. He also had a lot of questions about the priesthood but we told him there are many things to teach him about on this subject so we will talk about it more next time. he is excited to learn more. We rushed home for exchanges but we got a phone call from Sisters Ott and Shaw saying they will just come by in the morning for studies and then I'll go to Chino with Sister Shaw.

May 28- this sisters came late cause they kept getting lost but they finally made it! Sister Dunford and Ott planned for a lesson with Jolie. The Spanish sisters went to that one cause it was a pass off lesson. Sister Dunford said it went really well. I was back at the apartment with Sister Shaw doing our studies which turned into us talking almost the whole time. it was the best! I love this girl so much, she is amazing! we were able to talk about what things we have learned on our missions and things we need to work on or want to work on. its crazy how similar we are! we also talked about a few sisters we are concerned about and ways we can help them. she asked for my advice on a few things and I hope I was able to help her. After that it was lunch time so I ate with Sister Dunford cause the other sisters were fasting. they had something come up with one of their investigators so they went and prayed on how to help him and what to do. They came back out and said they feel like they both need to go back and help him out. We understood completely! the sisters thanked us for understanding and our hard work. they said they are proud of us and don't worry about us. that made us happy to hear! we just love them so much! we had the sisters drop us off at the church for a lesson with a potential Chelsea but she never showed. we then went to our appointment with Jock and Olivia which went great! we gave them the for strength of youth pamphlet. they loved it! we then shared a Mormon message about the Plan of Salvation. they like that a lot too. we started talking about it but Jock asked a few questions that lead to us talking about the Restoration. We gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon. Olivia loved it so much! for the rest of the lesson she was flipping through it and reading all she could. we invited them to read and pray about it. they agreed to that as well as a church tour next week! we hope we stay so we can be there for that! after the lesson Sister Buck picked us up to go to the park for mutual. We had a BBQ and played softball. It was so much fun! During the BBQ we were able to talk to a lady for about 30 minutes about the Plan of Salvation and all the miracles that has happened in her life. she was super friendly and sweet. we tried setting up a return visit but she hesitated and said she is busy right now, which is okay. we gave her our number though. our ward members loved seeing us do missionary work, a lot of them came up to us and asked about her and what we were talking about and if we knew her. we told them no we just started talking to her and the conversation quickly turned into a gospel related one. it helped our members see that it is easy and in any setting you can share your beliefs. Sister Salmon dropped us off at home since it was dark. we dropped off our stuff and went to check mail. Earlier in the day there was a guy next to us on his balcony and I said hi and we were able to talk to him about what we do and asked if we could share a message with him. He agreed so as we walked by we remembered to try and see Marcel. We went and knocked at his door and his mom, Mary, answered the door and wasn't the friendliest but went and got her son Marcel and we stood out by the door with him for a minute trying to set up a time to share a message but he said now would work. The door quickly opened and it was Mary. she said I am so sorry, I am really not a mean person. Please come in! we thanked her and then realized that we don't have any of our things to teach with so we asked if we could grab those and come right back. They said yes, of course! we ran home super excited and grabbed everything. we went back over and there was chairs all set up in the family room for us. ( it totally felt like one of the District lessons haha) We sat down with Marcel and tried to watch the Because of Him video but it wouldn't load on his phone and then the phone died. we looked at each other with a panic look and went with plan B! talk about the plan of salvation. It was such a great and easy lesson. the spirit took control and told me what to say. I love lessons like those!

May 29- we woke up early today to be ready by 7:10 for the sisters to pick us up. we were on our way to the Woodruff building for zone conference at 7:45. zone conference was amazing! we were with the Chino zone so I got to see sister Edwards! that was fun to see her and catch up with her. From zone conference I learned many things! we shared our favorite scriptures about Christ, mine was Moroni 10: 32-33 and then we talked about true conversion. we need to be converted to help others be converted as well. you can only convert as far as your own conversion. we then talked about members views of missionaries and how we can have good relationships with them. honestly what I have come to realize is that it is LOVING the members of the ward and letting them know you love and care for them. That is what makes the difference and helps the members trust us as missionaries. overall it was a wonderful zone conference. after we all ate lunch together, the chino stake RS put it all together so that was fun to mingle. we then went home and changed into our service clothes to go and clean a "hoarders" home. that was quite an experience. I just kept telling myself it isn't as bad as the ones they show on TLC haha but pretty close! We found expired food from 12 years ago and sister Dunford found some hair in a bag and that freaked her out haha It was really dusty and nasty. We left and picked up some dinner and came home and ate it. we went out to go have a lesson with Marcel. he was out throwing garbage away. we were able to talk with him for a few minutes but not have a lesson cause his step dad came home. we gave him a Book of Mormon cause he wanted to study the scriptures at the end of the pamphlet we game him. we were excited about that! we did find out that he is 21 so we will have to pass him off to the YSA Branch sisters. we are sad to do that but happy that we could give them some work. We are all on the same team!!

May 30- This morning we went and painted sister Vondersaars kitchen. Who knew I would become a professional painter on the mission haha after we went home for lunch and did weekly planning. when that was over we headed off to Irene's to visit with her. she let us in and we chatted for a while well actually she did most of the talking. we were able to share Ether 12:27 with her. She loved it! she is still struggling with CPR which is church, pray, read so we are going to text her a scripture a day to read to help her gain a habit of reading. we hope it will help her. our next appointment canceled so we walked back to our place to pick up a few things but on our way back we saw our neighbor betty and her daughter out sitting on the curb by Bettys car which had a major flat tire. we asked if we could help change the tire. I felt really cool that I knew how to do it! Thanks dad for teaching me that skill! :) However we weren't able to change it cause she didn't have a jack so we took this opportunity to call a member of our ward to help. Bro England came to the Rescue! Betty and her daughter were amazed by this. They were so grateful and loved how our ward is like a huge family. it was a neat experience for us, the England's, and Betty. A seed was planted for sure! We headed down to area 11 where we were able to talk with our friend Miguel for a minute and then went to the Swarts. they just got back from a vacation so it was good to see them. we talked to sister Swart about Jazmin and the concerns she has. she gave us many materials that will help us and her with those issues. sister Swart is just amazing! After we headed down to Jazmins place for dinner. we had pizza and just talked it was really fun. we decided to walk up to the Swarts. Jazmin still had their movie 17 miracles so we though it would be good to drop it off and have Sister Swart talk with Jazmin. It was on of the best decisions wee have made cause we were able to extend a baptism date. I invited her to be baptized on June 21 and she accepted!! The spirit was so strong and everyone could feel it. Bro and Sis Swart were amazing and helped a ton as well as their 11 year old son Zach. He amazed Sister Dunford and I. He bore his testimony on many subjects, he will one day make an awesome missionary! We finally left and walked back to her house and she told us how excited she is and how happy she is. She even used "When I get dunked" hahahaha we died laughing. She was concerned about our transfers she wants us both to be there for her big day and we promised her we would be.

May 31- Transfer doctrine day!! Oh boy we were so not focused cause all we could think about is transfers. its a good thing we were able to go to the Bucks and help them move to try and get our minds off of it. We helped them clean their entire home. We were so sad to see them leave but I am so happy I was able to meet them and have them bless my life. they will be missed for sure! we then went and helped Betty again this time Sister England came too. They were able to invite Betty to church! they are just the greatest. we then went to have a lesson with Marcel but he was out of town but its okay cause that was when we finally got our call. AH!! we were freaking out haha we freaked out over nothing cause we are staying together!!! we were shocked when we heard this cause I was certain that one of us would leave but our work here isn't done yet!! We both are so happy. our entire district stayed but we did get a new District leader!!! yay!! the Centennial ward got ward mates and he is our new DL. we then made our phone calls to everyone in the ward who asked us to let them know what was going to happen. Everyone was super excited about it! I love this ward so much! Sister Dunford and I turned to each other and freaked cause we are going to have a baptism together!!! that was the biggest tender mercy ever!

June 1- We went to church and Jazmin and Ivan were there! It was good to have them there. They weren't able to stay the whole time but hey at least they made it to sacrament meeting. We did meet with the bishop cause Jazmin asked if Ivan could baptize her. That was really cool cause Ivan is working towards being ready to do so! I am so grateful to be apart of this! I love the Lord so much and this gospel. I cant even imagine my life without it. It breaks my heart to think about the many people who live with out it but one day soon that will change!!

I have been able to get many quotes from some amazing books. I want to start sharing some with you all at the end of each email!

We don't pray because we're worthy, we pray because we need help. We don't take the sacrament because we are perfect, but because we are willing to be perfected. We don't go to the temple because we've made it, but because God is making us better there. We are not earning a treasure in heaven, but learning to treasure heavenly things.